How Manufacturing Companies Can Drive Predictable Growth in Uncertain Times

Every successful business-to-business (B2B) marketing strategy has one main goal in mind: creating predictable growth.

Without predictable growth, it doesn’t matter how much website traffic you generate or how much money you invest in paid search marketing. Why? Because when the economy takes a nosedive, your leads will dry up, your pipeline will empty, and your business will stagnate.

If your manufacturing company wants to consistently increase revenue and reach new prospects, you need to create a strong B2B marketing strategy that focuses on predictable growth.

What Challenges Is the Manufacturing Sector Facing?

The manufacturing industry has a particular set of challenges that make it difficult to successfully reach new customers and engage with prospects. Things are even more formidable during economic downturns—which means that manufacturers have recently encountered new marketing obstacles to overcome.

Here are four significant challenges the manufacturing sector is facing today.

Challenge #1: Rising Inflation

Inflation is at a 40-year high (and still climbing). And while inflation has a devastating impact on the economy at large, manufacturing companies are in a unique position.

Manufacturers often have long-term contracts with their customers. These agreements come with limitations on the ability to adjust pricing mid-contract. Without control over how much you can charge for your products and services, and with business costs skyrocketing due to inflation, filling the terms of the contract eats into your profitability and increases your operating expenses.

It seems impossible to become more profitable when inflation affects your ability to produce goods at a reasonable cost.

Challenge #2: Supply Chain Disruptions

Supply chain disruptions have affected nearly every industry, especially those impacted by chip shortages, and manufacturing companies are not an exception

As a manufacturer, you need raw materials to produce the goods you sell. If you can’t get those materials in a timely fashion, you won’t be able to meet the demand of your customers—so you can’t make the sales you need to grow (or even sustain) your business.

Having to say “no” to customers because you don’t have access to the supplies you need to fulfill their requests is a major problem.

Challenge #3: Shortage of Skilled Labor

Manufacturing companies need skilled employees to make products, conduct quality assurance checks, manage logistics, run machines, and procure supplies. Even fully automated production facilities still need operators and salespeople.

During the “Great Resignation,” companies of all kinds have had trouble filling job openings and securing qualified workers. If you don’t have the skilled labor you need, your ability to manufacture your products and meet the demands of your customers is limited.

A lack of skilled labor affects your ability to make sales and increase revenue.

Challenge #4: Unpredictable Revenue Growth

Regardless of what’s happening in the industry or to the economy, you still need to grow your business. Instead of having a rollercoaster of new customers and sales—highs and lows, ups and downs—you should focus on creating predictable growth.

Predictable revenue growth is more important than achieving cost efficiencies. And it’s necessary in order to overcome other marketing challenges in the manufacturing sector.

Without predictable growth, you are much more likely to close your doors.

How Can Manufacturing Companies Overcome These Challenges?

There’s no question that these challenges make it more difficult for manufacturing companies to reach and engage with potential customers. So, how can you overcome these obstacles?

You have two choices: You can sit around hoping the problem goes away, or you can be proactive and get ahead of the pack.

We recommend the second option.

By following a systematic process and methodology, your manufacturing company can set itself apart from the competition and generate consistent, predictable growth—meaning you can achieve success in any circumstances.

READ: Digital Marketing for Manufacturers

The Solution: The OneIMS Growth Formula

Many companies view sales and revenue as a transactional relationship. In other words, when they need more revenue, they send out salespeople into the field to attempt to get more prospects.

The problem is that when inflation, supply chain shortages, or a lack of skilled laborers increase production costs, it becomes more difficult to secure sales. That means these companies are stuck on a rollercoaster of highs and lows, relying on the stars to align before their revenue can increase.

Instead, we need to rethink how marketing can influence the sales process and drives revenue.

We’ve created the growth formula as a way for manufacturing companies to develop a framework for predictable revenue growth. Both acquiring prospects and retaining customers is critical to consistently growing your business.

Here’s what this looks like:

To encourage prospects to work with your manufacturing company, you need to get customers to your website (acquisition) and then meet their needs so they stay on your website and purchase your products and/or services (retention).

If you follow this framework, you can drive predictable growth—even in uncertain times.

READ: Definitive Guide to Marketing Your Manufacturing Company

The Four-Part Process to Achieving Predictable Growth

There are a lot of things outside of your control in terms of the economy, but one thing you can control is having a full pipeline. With a consistent flow of prospects, you can be selective in the clients you bring on and survive any sort of economic downturn or upswing.

Here are the action items you need to implement:

Invest in technology that scales
Invest in digital infrastructure
Focus on building brand affinity
Become future-proof

Consistency and predictability are key. Keep these goals in mind as you develop a new and improved marketing strategy for your manufacturing company.

Learn How to Drive Predictable Growth in Unpredictable Times

Are you ready to implement these action items and overcome the challenges of the manufacturing sector? If so, we’re here to help.

Our webinar explains exactly what steps you need to take to drive consistent, predictable growth and create a successful marketing strategy—regardless of the ups and downs of the economic situation.

Visit our website and access the free recording of our growth training seminar to get the details.

Conclusion

At OneIMS, we have more than 16 years of experience working with hundreds of manufacturing companies to reach new customers, engage with prospects, and achieve predictable growth.

Our skilled marketing team can provide a variety of marketing initiatives and services:

With our growth formula framework and experience with digital marketing initiatives in the manufacturing sector, we will help you build website traffic, obtain more leads, increase revenue, and grow your business.

Interested in learning about our growth marketing solutions for manufacturers? Check out our process or schedule a consultation with us today.

Samuel Thimothy

As the Chief Growth Officer, I provide leadership, direction and resource stewardship to the organization’s sales and marketing function. I also collaborate with our digital marketing strategy team in developing and executing growth marketing campaigns for our loyal clients.